California Democrats spent years telling you the criminal justice system was broken and they were the ones to fix it.
Sacramento Assemblymember Kevin McCarty took that project further than most – and Fresno is now living with what he built.
What a District 7 city council candidate just said on camera is the clearest proof yet of exactly where McCarty's vision leads.
Registered Sex Offender Rene Campos Launches Fresno City Council Bid
Rene Campos is running for Fresno City Council on a public safety platform.
His campaign website promises to reduce violent crime and deliver "clean, safe neighborhoods."
Campos is also a registered sex offender.
He was charged in 2018 with possession of child sexual abuse material, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor, and served two years of formal probation.
Now he wants a seat on the body that sets public safety policy for one of California's largest cities.
When ABC30 asked him to explain his candidacy, Campos didn't step back from his record – he leaned into it.
"They say let's choose somebody outside the box, somebody who knows the system from the inside out," he told the station, "because me, I've experienced the laws that we are trying to reform right now."
When the Daily Caller News Foundation pressed him directly, Campos added: "I know what it means to face consequences. I also know what it takes to rebuild."
California's Proposition 17 Opened Elected Office to Convicted Felons
Here's the mechanism – and here's whose name is on it.
In 2019, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty introduced ACA-6, a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to felons on state parole.
The California legislature passed it along almost entirely partisan lines – 54 to 19 in the Assembly, 28 to 9 in the Senate.
Democrats put it on the 2020 ballot as Proposition 17.
Opponents warned at the time that the roughly 50,000 parolees who would gain eligibility included people convicted of murder, rape, child molestation, and human trafficking.
California voters approved it anyway – by 18 points.
Because California law automatically allows registered voters to run for office, Prop 17 didn't just restore voting rights.
It opened elective office to felons on parole – with only two exceptions: perjury and bribery convictions remain disqualifying.
Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus confirmed to ABC30 that Campos' sex offender status creates no legal barrier to his candidacy, noting that once a sentence is served, ex-convicts in California can reregister to vote and run for office as long as they live in the relevant jurisdiction.
California Law Has No Disqualifier for Sex Offenders Seeking Public Office
Fellow District 7 candidate Nav Gurm put the practical problem plainly.
"I think it should be a disqualification to serve in public office," Gurm told ABC30. "If I'm the next councilmember in District 7 and I can't show up to a school site, how can I best represent the people in the neighborhoods I want to serve?"
A city council member who cannot legally set foot on a school campus – in a district full of families, students, and neighborhood schools – cannot do the job.
McCarty sold Prop 17 as a civic engagement measure, a way to help people reenter society and feel invested in their communities.
What he actually built was a legal pathway for a man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material to run a "public safety" campaign and ask Fresno parents for their vote.
California Democrats made this possible, named it reform, and called anyone who objected a threat to democracy.
The parents of Fresno District 7 are the ones paying the price for that particular act of Sacramento wisdom.
Sources:
- Brisa Colón, "'You are not your past': Registered sex offender seeks to join race for Fresno City Council District 7," ABC30/KFSN, February 25, 2026.
- Liliana Fannin, "Registered sex offender running for Fresno City Council. 'I'm not hiding from it,'" Fresno Bee, February 13, 2026.
- Jack Cowhick, "Sex Offender Running for Fresno City Council on 'Safety' Platform," Daily Caller News Foundation, February 25, 2026.
- California Legislative Analyst's Office, "Proposition 17," November 2020.
- Rose Institute of State and Local Government, "Proposition 17: Voting Rights for Parolees," 2020.
